Court Orders Expedited Discovery in ‘XPays v. Does’

LOS ANGELES—XPays attorney Michael Fattorosi is certainly doing something right in his copyright infringement lawsuit filed in January against 843 anonymous John Does accused of illegally downloading One Night in Paris, the infamous 2004 sex tape featuring hotel chain heiress Paris Hilton and Rick Solomon, then her boyfriend. Fattorosi won an expedited discovery from U.S. District Court Judge S, James Otero, who issued his order March 3.

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“Plaintiff may engage in immediate discovery in this matter, including the issuance of subpoenas to cable operators and Internet Service Providers (ISP) to produce any and all documents and/or information sufficient to identify the DOE defendants,” wrote Otero.

For each subpoena, the judge continued, ISPs will have seven calendar days after the service of the subpoena to notify subscribers that their identity is being sought by XPays. Subscribers will then have 21 days from the date of the notice to file any papers contesting the subpoena.

In his March 3 application for expedited discovery, Fattorosi wrote, of the identifying information being requested, “Plaintiff will only use this information to prosecute the claims made in its Complaint. Without this information Plaintiff cannot pursue its lawsuit to protect its copyrighted works.”

Fattorosi also made three main factors supporting expedited discovery that existed in the XPays lawsuit. First, each of the Does observed allegedly infringing One Night was believed to be a California resident. Second, there existed no other practical measures to identify the defendants. And third, XPays had asserted a prima facie claim for copyright infringement that could withstand a motion to dismiss.

The success in achieving expedited discovery in this case contrasts sharply with other copyright infringement John Doe cases throughout the country in which defendants are being severed by judges, who are forcing attorneys to re-file individually on behalf of their adult and mainstream clients.